Television sportscaster details daughter’s distracted driving death
Dom Tiberi still has a hard time believing his daughter Maria died in a car crash three years ago.
“I say it has happened, but part of me doesn’t believe it happened and that I can’t fix it,” he told Bellefontaine High School students Tuesday.
“I have wonderful memories of Maria. I can still smell her (in his memory). But you can’t hug a memory; you can’t kiss a memory; you can’t call up a memory and talk to them every day like I do now with my son.”
Out of Maria’s death, the Channel TV 10 sportscaster developed a passion for telling teenagers that distracted driving kills.
“It’s an epidemic among young people. Worse than heroin, although heroin is catching up,” he said.
“I’m here as an advocate for your parents. I want you to know your lives matter, you are important and you are loved.”
Mr. Tiberi’s visit coincided with the official launch of two distracted driving simulators that area schools can use.
Dom Tiberi addresses Bellefontaine High School students Tuesday during an assembly launching the regular use of two distracted driving simulators purchased with local funds and a match from the Maria Tiberi Foundation.
Bellefontaine will have one simulator in the cafeteria for the next week or so.
The Bellefontaine Rotary Club led a local fundraising program to generate $15,000 toward the machines. The Maria Tiberi Foundation chipped in another $15,000 to purchase the machines.
Mr. Tiberi encouraged the students to be leaders by pledging to never text and drive and to avoid riding with anyone who does. He wants them to treat a distracted driver the same as a drunk driver.
Maria was a 21-year-old graphic design student at The Ohio State University living at home. She left the home at 10:38 p.m. Sept. 17, 2013, and was dead by 10:43 p.m.
For some reason, her car slammed into the rear of a stopped tractor-trailer on I-270 less than three miles from the Tiberi home.
No one knows for sure why it happened, Mr. Tiberi says, but for some reason his daughter was distracted from driving.
Bellefontaine was the 67th school he has visited to spread his message.
He told the students traffic fatalities grew in 2015 to levels last seen in 1966. This year is on pace for a 9 percent increase.
One of those fatal crashes occurred May 16 on State Route 540 just east of U.S. Route 33.
Bellefontaine Officer Andy Loehr recounted the crash investigation, saying, “It was a day like today — clear and sunny.”
Bellefontaine Police Officer Andy Loehr describes his findings in a May 16 fatal crash that was attributed to distracted driving. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | JOEL E. MAST)
It happened on an open stretch of road and there was no apparent reason for the crash until he looked into the deceased’s vehicle.
There, within easy reach, lay the victim’s cell phone.
“Texting played a part in the crash,” Officer Loehr said. “Distracted driving played a part.
“If you get an important text, pull over to respond. It’s just not worth it to keep driving.”
A trailer to haul the driver simulators has been donated by Wren’s Towing & Recovery of DeGraff. The Bellefontaine Examiner and V-Tech Communications split the cost of adding electricity and heating and cooling to the trailer, as well as a vinyl substrate to its exterior.
Other donations received by the Bellefontaine Rotary Club toward the $15,000 total included the following donors: Belletech Corp., Bellefontaine Police Department, Alan Galvez Insurance, Bob Pallenshus State Farm Insurance, David Dailey State Farm Insurance, State Farm Insurance Co.’s matching corporate donation, Stolly Insurance Group for the Ohio School Plan, Hill & Hamilton Insurance, Liberty National Bank and donations by individual Rotary Club members.
Untitled from Bellefontaine Examiner on Vimeo.